By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: The Union Minister of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Steel Dharmendra Pradhan in the Rajya Sabha in a written reply on Monday said that as on 16.09.2020, 13.57 crore refills have been delivered to PMUY beneficiaries.
As part of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package, a scheme for providing free of cost LPG refills to PMUY beneficiaries for the next three months w.e.f. 01.04.2020 was implemented. The Scheme has now been extended till September 30, 2020 for those beneficiaries who have been credited with the advance for buying refills, but not able to buy the refills till 30th June 2020 Scheme, the Minister said.
Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have informed that LPG cylinders purchased by them are manufactured in India and no imports are done. Further, Indigenous production of LPG is less than demand, hence OMCs import LPG to meet the deficit to maintain smooth supply of LPG in the country. During April, 2020 to June, 2020, 44 % of the total demand of the country has been met through domestically produced LPG and balance 56 % has been met through import, he said.
In order to protect the Domestic LPG consumers from volatility in the prices of LPG in the international market, the selling prices of domestic subsidized LPG are modulated by the government. Domestic LPG prices are revised every month in line with international price of LPG with corresponding revision in monthly LPG subsidy under PAHAL Scheme. Applicable subsidy is transferred directly to the bank account of beneficiary upon purchase of refill at non-subsidised price and subsidy burden is borne by the Government. Current Retail Selling Price of 14.2 Kg LPG refill at Delhi Market is Rs. 594/-, Pradhan said.
Taking advantage of the low crude oil prices in international market, India purchased 16.71 million barrels (mbbl) of crude in April – May, 2020 and filled all the three Strategic Petroleum Reserves created at Vishakhapatnam, Mangalore and Padur. The average cost of procurement of crude oil was US $ 19 per bbl as compared to US $ 60 per bbl prevailing during January2020, thus resulting in saving of US $ 685.11 million, which amounts to Rs. 5069 crores (at 1US $= Rs.74), he said.
Prices of petrol and diesel have been made market-determined by the Government with effect from 26.06.2010 and 19.10.2014 respectively. Since then, the Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) take appropriate decision on pricing of petrol and diesel in line with international product prices and other market conditions. Oil Marketing Companies take a decision on retail selling price after considering various aspects including international product prices, exchange rate, tax structure, inland freight and other cost elements, Pradhan said.
Petrol and Diesel prices are market-determined and increase or decrease according to market trends. The weightage of petrol and diesel in the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) is 1.60% and 3.10% respectively, he said.
Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) namely Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) have informed that they have not offered home delivery of Petrol and CNG to their customers.
OMCs have informed that Home delivery of Diesel (HSD) is not offered by them. Door to Door delivery of fuel is not permitted at individual vehicles like two wheeler vehicles, three wheeler vehicles, four wheeler vehicles, commercial vehicles like cars, trucks, tempos, passenger vehicles like taxis, cars, buses, school buses, tankers etc.
Door to door delivery of fuel is permitted for stationary equipments, machinery and heavy vehicles which are located at specific customer sites, in dedicated industrial zones, equipments operating in mines, construction sites, agricultural machinery, diesel generators, vehicles etc, which cannot come to the service station for refueling. The Door to Door delivery of HSD is carried out by the PESO licensed Mobile dispensers to the identified customers through start-ups and dealer owned Mobile dispensers. Under the Door to Door delivery initiative, 78 TKL of HSD has been delivered in the period 01st July 2019 to 31st August, 2020 by OMCs.OMCs have informed that currently, there is no proposal for home delivery of Petrol and CNG, he added.
